As the gun's report echoed through the cafeteria, Cal kidney punched Tucker with his left fist. The man gasped in pain and began to double over as his gun was wrenched from his fingers. Seconds later, several others came in for the tackle. Cal leapt back, gun in hand, to avoid the dog pile. Security arrived seconds later.

"Jenny! Come on! I would never have hurt you!" Tucker continued to scream as one security guard put a knee squarely in his back and handcuffed him.

Cal moved closer and peered down at him, allowing a cold anger to spread across his face. "You're full of crap you wanker."

The girl wandered a little closer, giving Brad Tucker a wide birth. She wound up next to Cal and looked up at him.

He stared back. She was so tiny. Not much older then Emily. Her badge read 'Jennifer Young.' She was a nurse's assistant. "You okay luv?"

Nodding, she continued to watch him, eyes huge. "How did you know?"

A tiny smile tugged at his mouth. "Just a knack for reading people."

"Thank you."

"Course darlin'."

Looking down, a frown crinkled her brow. "You're bleeding."

Startled, Cal followed her gaze. Sure enough, the bullet apparently had grazed him across the ribcage. Blood was beginning to soak through the thin fabric of his shirt and dribble down toward the waistband of his jeans. As the shocked nerves recovered, a horrible burning and aching spread through his side. Without thinking he inspected it with his fingers. A tiny bit of bone shone through. "Ah, hell."

As Tucker was led away, medical personnel surrounded Cal. He thought that it was pretty damned convenient that he was in a hospital. He also thought that it was entirely possible that Gillian was going to kill him.

(BREAK)

Emily watched as a nurse arrived at the entry of Gillian's room and proceeded to quickly pull the door shut.

"Hey!" Her voice rang out, inadvertently startling the baby and Gillian out of a light sleep. "What's going on?"

The woman appeared a trifle uncomfortable. "Just a small disturbance. Nothing to worry about. It's probably just a drill. Please stay in the room."

She was gone before Emily had time to question her further.

"Emily?" Gillian felt groggy as she turned to look at Emily and the baby. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure. Nurse said it was probably a drill."

Frowning, Gill's eyes took a quick perusal of the room. "Where's your dad?"

"Um…"

"He didn't come back."

"Not yet."

James' started to cry and Emily immediately brought him to his mom.

Gillian folded the infant into her arms, maneuvering so she could more easily nurse him. Her incision was tender, so it took a little extra effort. "Hungry, sweetie?" Her voice was so gentle but her face pinched with worry.

Blue eyes met dark brown as the two women looked at one another.

"You don't think…"

"I'm sure he's fine Em," Gill's words didn't fit her face.

Emily pulled out her phone, eyes not leaving Gillian's. It rang as she held it.

(BREAK)

They had insisted on a wheelchair. Not impressed initially, he was now thankful. His side was starting to really hurt like hell.

Wiping blood off his hand onto his jeans, he reached into his pocket to grab his phone. The simple movement had him gritting his teeth as he felt sweat break out on his forehead.

He direct dialed Emily. She immediately picked it up.

"Dad? What happened?"

"I got detained."

"Did you get caught in the lockdown?"

"Kind of."

Long silence. "Are you the reason for the lockdown?"

"Your faith in me is astounding."

"Answer the question."

"Um, not exactly, but maybe, kind of. Just a little."

He heard Emily's voice move away from the phone, speaking to Gillian. "I think he got himself in trouble again."

"Eh!" The word changed into a gasp as he shifted his body in annoyance.

"Dad! What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You sounded funny for a second."

"Does anything get past you?"

"No. I learned from the best."

Cal grunted in acknowledgement. "Look darlin', I need to go for the moment, but I'll be back upstairs as soon as I can."

He had arrived at treatment for stitches and who knew what else. Could hardly wait.

"Wait a minute Dad, what exactly happened?"

"I'll tell you everything but I have to go now. They need to patch me up."

"What?" Emily's voice cracked slightly, but he was already gone.

Still holding the phone up, she cast a long look at Gillian. "He just said he'd be up as soon as he could. I'm not sure what happened." She purposely left out the 'patch me up' part, not wanting to alarm her step mom.

Gillian wasn't fooled. "Is he okay?" Her heart was starting to beat a little faster.

"Well, yeah, I think so."

With a knock, the nurse popped back in. "Just needed to check your incision sight Mrs. Lightman."

Frowning with worry, Gillian gave a slight nod. "Em, could you?"

"Yeah, sure." Emily took James and sat with him. She peered down at him as he studied her. "You know somethin' kiddo?" Her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. "We have a dad who is kind of a nut job. But he's a good guy at heart." She kissed his cheek.

The nurse asked several questions about Gillian's recovery before checking the surgical sight. "We'll be taking those staples out before you go home. Internal sutures will absorb of course. Right now we need you to get up and walk a bit."

"I'd like to ask you a quick question first, if you don't mind."

"By all means."

"What happened a little bit ago? Was it some kind of drill?"

Immediately the woman became uncomfortable. "I'm not really at liberty to say."

Without pretense, Gillian grabbed her arm. "My husband went down to the cafeteria and has not come back. What happened? Please?"

Still hesitating, the nurse looked down at her patient, inwardly debating. Really. What difference could it possibly make now? With a sigh, she relented. "Apparently there was some kind of incident involving a man threatening his ex-girlfriend with a gun. A hospital visitor managed to disarm him and got himself shot in the process."

Gillian felt the blood run from her face. "The visitor…?"

Emily's head popped up in response as well, her mouth hanging slightly open, eyes widening.

"Stable from my understanding. I'm sorry, I don't know anything more." The nurse studied Gillian a little more closely, "Are you okay? I'm sure your husband will be back shortly." Her voice was very gentle.

"I'm sure." The response was just a whisper before she turned back to the other woman. "Could I try walking a little later?"

"Can't be too much later. The sooner you're on your feet, the better."

"I understand."

"I'll be back in a half an hour." A quick smile flashed at Gillian before moving to Emily. With that, she was gone.

(BREAK)

A tetanus shot, an antibiotic shot, a painkiller and about 3000 stitches (seemingly) to close the flesh over his exposed rib and Cal was oh so ready to get out of there. All he wanted was to get back to Gillian. Unfortunately, the very act of moving was quite a trick. Levitation would be nice, but since that was not an option, he had to step very carefully to avoid excessively jarring his body. On the plus side, his posture was better than it'd been in years.

He placed his feet down on the tile before cautiously standing erect. His wound was bandaged and taped securely. A hospital gown had replaced his ruined shirt. Although he was still wearing his jeans, he felt somewhat vulnerable.

"Dr. Lightman?"

Cal slowly moved his head toward the voice. He felt like all his movements were going to be slow for a quite a while. Physically, his body was probably going to thank him, mentally, he was going to be falling off his nut. It wasn't going to be a pretty picture. Especially with a newborn. A small sigh escaped his lips.

Jenny, the nurse's assistant from the cafeteria approached him. "I just wanted to check on you. See if you were okay." She gave him a hesitant, almost shy smile.

"I'm okay darlin'. Just waiting for some prescriptions so I can head back to my family."

Nodding, she continued to gaze up at him. "I also wanted to thank you again."

He nodded, giving her a half smile, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "No worries."

An RN returned with several prescriptions, and various printed and verbal instructions. "Do you have someone to drive you home?"

"Actually, I just need to get back to the maternity ward."

"Pardon?"

"My wife just had a baby before I got involved in, uh, well, the situation in the cafeteria. I just want to get back to her."

"I could take him up." Jenny stepped forward as Cal watched her, a puzzled frown creasing his brow. Without waiting for an answer, she turned to locate a wheelchair.

"Okay then. Don't forget to follow up with your personal doctor in a week to 10 days. Any unusual issues, do not hesitate to come back here."

"Sure."

Jenny returned with the wheelchair, putting the brakes on and looking at him expectantly.

"Listen luv, I think I'd rather walk up myself. My wife's gonna be a bit upset and I'd like to respect her privacy. Besides, I really feel like walking." That last part was a lie.

Disappointment and hurt settled into her eyes.

"I do really appreciate the offer. You take care." Cal put a gentle hand on her shoulder before moving toward the double doors that would eventually lead to the bank of elevators.